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HAM/1/19/46
Letter from William Napier, 7th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton
Diplomatic Text
Buxton June 8th- 1773
I was made happy with My dearest Mary's Letter
of Sunday this morning & hope by this time
her cold is quite gone & she as well as I wish
her. I am extremely obliged to you for ʃaying
you follow the dictates of your inclinaton in
writing me & not in obedience to my Com̅ands
no command not agreeable to My dearest
Ward ever shall be laid on her by me, its
true I may have objections but never to
hurt you in any way in the World. The Penseroʃo[1]
prevail'd on Saterday night at Derby & had it
not been good luck more than good manage
ment in the Ostler I might have broke my
neck for just in going into Leicester[2] the
fore Wheel of my Chaise came almost off
& wd have been so, had not a Man in paʃsing
by obʃerved it, & stop'd me, when not a quar=
ter of an inch was on, going down hill
as fast as the horses could go. however Pro
vedence was kind to yr Guardian & he
got by good fortune no harm. you ʃay My
Dearest Girl that Life is checker'd so much
the better for two reaʃons first were we
always to have what we pleased as changable
beings we would tire of Life very ʃoon
& again were we always to be happy we wd-
not know the difference between good &
bad, of Course have but little or no depend
ance on God almighty to become worse
or at least as bad as the Brute creation
so remember what Pope ʃays whatever is, is
right. apropos to poetry I have just heard
from a very senʃible Clergyman of two vols.
of Poems by one Byrom of Manchester just
come out[3] which I have ʃent for and
shall send to My dearest Mary as ʃoon
as poʃsible adieu My dear Girl I must go
drink water & walk for an hour after
that I shall write more -- Returned to
go on, The Kitten nor her Uncle has not as
yet made their appearance however I
have found a great number of friends here
together with a thouʃand water drinking ac
quaintances who People only knows at
ʃuch places -- I am extremely ʃenʃible
My Dearest Girl of both your Mama's
& your own friendʃhip for me, nor do I
in the least doubt but both are aʃsured of
mine in every thing its in my power
to ʃerve either of you & believe me the
many, many, Civilities I have received
from both, shall, or rather will, never
be forgot as long as I exʃist. Indeed
My Dearest Mary I would rather never
hear from you (a punishment worse
than any almost sent on this earth)
then that you should in the least
hurt your Eyes by writing me, next
to the hearing you are well, is the
hearing from you in short letters, next
to that are long ones, & next, & I must ʃay
the greatest is being in your Company
where the goddeʃs of good humor precides
together with that of saucineʃs & indeed
with friends the two Goddeʃs's ought al-
wise to be in the ʃame Company
the one at the head of the table, or as
you please the ʃide, the other always at
the bottom repreʃented by the only Girl
who can make ʃaucyneʃs agreeable
without affectation, I am afraid most
ʃaucy people splits there, not distinguish=
ing the one for the other but I can always
anʃwer for my Ward doing right, I wish
to God you was here that I might be
truely happy & I think you would be
well amuʃed by ʃome characters worthy
of notice both among the Lady's & Gentlemen
& many we have here I can aʃsure you
that would give you pleaʃure to laugh
at, as well as to be pleased with --
So you little D——l you want me to get
into ʃome scrape or other wt- Mrs Rogers
Dont you? to write all that fine story to
me to perswade me she is angry with
me for not doing the thing in ye world
I should have best liked, had time al=
=lowed me without doing what might
have been inconvinient to her, viz
the calling on her when not well, but
tho I cannot ʃay you incouraged me to
go it I safely can ʃay you did not hinder
me tho you laughed at me for not
doing what my inclinations always
led me too, paying my best respects
to Mrs Rogers & the —— under the words
to fold it up in due form convinces me
that she does not expect a Note to apologise
for my want of politeneʃs so pray My
Dear, Good, ʃenʃible, amiable, Satirical
Ward dont laugh at your poor Guardian
as that is quite abʃurd, Ridiculous, non=
=ʃenʃical Stuff not very proper to use to
your Guardian nor did I suppose Miʃs
Hamilton could be serious in writing ʃuch a thing
otherwise I most certainly would now have
done myself the honor of paying my most
respectfull Compliments to Mrs Rogers
in any way that I thought would be
most agreeable to her & I must ʃay that
it was her behaviour to you that first
drew my attention towards her, as in
all probability it would never been in
my power to have had the Happineʃs
of her Acquaintance had it not been
thro you -- I deʃire, nay lay my Com̅ands
on you to keep quiete,[4] dont go abroad,
or even to the Garden till you are
quite well under pain of my greatest
displeaʃure. Apropos I dont like that
shyneʃs you Seem to have got into, of
never mentioning Hope always My
Dearest dearest Girl put that confidence
in me that I deʃire & would chuse to
be uʃed by those I love & I would be
sorry that you should think that I dont
look on you as one that I love most
sincerely, indeed My Dearest Mary I would
rather give up all correspondance with
you than suppose you did not at all times
both speak & write your mind freely
to me, I know the last is whats eaʃiest to
do by experience but for God ʃake my
Dear Girl never disguise thro modesty or
any other thing your ʃincere sentiments
to me, perhaps & without doubt you may
get a better adviʃer but ʃure I am that
to the best of my abilities you never
will get one that has your interest
more at heart both as to your preʃent
and future expectations in this World,
& to his ʃincere wish for you by Prayer
in the next. The Ladies's Maids have got
a dancing in ye next room & are making
such a Noise that I must give over &
as the post goes immediately you'll get this
to morrow so hoping I shall hear ʃoon
& that from the Heart in every station of
your Life I shall now end, beging my most
respectful Compliments to Mrs Hamilton
& Mrs Rogers not forgeting Mrs Thursby and
any friends you may think I have at
Northn Adieu My dearest dearest Ward
believe me most ʃincerely your most
affct- Couʃin, friend, & Guardian, the two
last I honor the first is meer chance
not worth the regarding in respect
to the two others God bleʃs My dearest
ward is the Prayer & wish of her Guardian
can I say more than ye last word
if poʃsible, be so good as add it
& believe me I'll ʃign Napier to it.[5]
(hover over blue text or annotations for clarification;
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. ‘Melancholic mood or temperament’ (OED s.v. penseroso n. 1. Accessed 02-09-2020).
2. Napier had planned to visit Northampton en route to Buxton (see HAM/1/19/34 and HAM/1/19/40). Leicester and Derby are on the way from Northampton to Buxton.
3. Miscellaneous poems, by John Byrom, M.A., F.R.S., sometime fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and inventor of the universal English short-hand was published posthumously in 1773.
4. The annotator, probably Mary Hamilton, has herself corrected quite to quiet by inserting a medial e and deleting the final e.
5. The author draws a double curved vertical line to enclose the last three lines, which are in the form of a postscript.
Normalised Text
Buxton June 8th- 1773
I was made happy with My dearest Mary's Letter
of Sunday this morning & hope by this time
her cold is quite gone & she as well as I wish
her. I am extremely obliged to you for saying
you follow the dictates of your inclination in
writing me & not in obedience to my Commands
no command not agreeable to My dearest
Ward ever shall be laid on her by me, it's
true I may have objections but never to
hurt you in any way in the World. The Penseroso
prevailed on Saturday night at Derby & had it
not been good luck more than good management
in the Ostler I might have broken my
neck for just in going into Leicester the
fore Wheel of my Chaise came almost off
& would have been so, had not a Man in passing
by observed it, & stopped me, when not a quarter
of an inch was on, going down hill
as fast as the horses could go. however Providence
was kind to your Guardian & he
got by good fortune no harm. you say My
Dearest Girl that Life is checkered so much
the better for two reasons first were we
always to have what we pleased as changeable
beings we would tire of Life very soon
& again were we always to be happy we would
not know the difference between good &
bad, of Course have but little or no dependence
on God almighty to become worse
or at least as bad as the Brute creation
so remember what Pope says whatever is, is
right. apropos to poetry I have just heard
from a very sensible Clergyman of two volumes
of Poems by one Byrom of Manchester just
come out which I have sent for and
shall send to My dearest Mary as soon
as possible adieu My dear Girl I must go
drink water & walk for an hour after
that I shall write more -- Returned to
go on, The Kitten nor her Uncle has not as
yet made their appearance however I
have found a great number of friends here
together with a thousand water drinking acquaintances
who People only knows at
such places -- I am extremely sensible
My Dearest Girl of both your Mama's
& your own friendship for me, nor do I
in the least doubt but both are assured of
mine in every thing it's in my power
to serve either of you & believe me the
many, many, Civilities I have received
from both, shall, or rather will, never
be forgotten as long as I exist. Indeed
My Dearest Mary I would rather never
hear from you (a punishment worse
than any almost sent on this earth)
than that you should in the least
hurt your Eyes by writing me, next
to the hearing you are well, is the
hearing from you in short letters, next
to that are long ones, & next, & I must say
the greatest is being in your Company
where the goddess of good humour presides
together with that of sauciness & indeed
with friends the two Goddess's ought alwise
to be in the same Company
the one at the head of the table, or as
you please the side, the other always at
the bottom represented by the only Girl
who can make sauciness agreeable
without affectation, I am afraid most
saucy people splits there, not distinguishing
the one for the other but I can always
answer for my Ward doing right, I wish
to God you was here that I might be
truly happy & I think you would be
well amused by some characters worthy
of notice both among the Lady's & Gentlemen
& many we have here I can assure you
that would give you pleasure to laugh
at, as well as to be pleased with --
So you little Devil you want me to get
into some scrape or other with Mrs Rogers
Don't you? to write all that fine story to
me to persuade me she is angry with
me for not doing the thing in the world
I should have best liked, had time allowed
me without doing what might
have been inconvenient to her, viz
the calling on her when not well, but
though I cannot say you encouraged me to
go it I safely can say you did not hinder
me though you laughed at me for not
doing what my inclinations always
led me to, paying my best respects
to Mrs Rogers & the —— under the words
to fold it up in due form convinces me
that she does not expect a Note to apologise
for my want of politeness so pray My
Dear, Good, sensible, amiable, Satirical
Ward don't laugh at your poor Guardian
as that is quite absurd, Ridiculous, nonsensical
Stuff not very proper to use to
your Guardian nor did I suppose Miss
Hamilton could be serious in writing such a thing
otherwise I most certainly would now have
done myself the honour of paying my most
respectful Compliments to Mrs Rogers
in any way that I thought would be
most agreeable to her & I must say that
it was her behaviour to you that first
drew my attention towards her, as in
all probability it would never been in
my power to have had the Happiness
of her Acquaintance had it not been
through you -- I desire, nay lay my Commands
on you to keep quiet, don't go abroad,
or even to the Garden till you are
quite well under pain of my greatest
displeasure. Apropos I don't like that
shyness you Seem to have got into, of
never mentioning Hope always My
Dearest dearest Girl put that confidence
in me that I desire & would choose to
be used by those I love & I would be
sorry that you should think that I don't
look on you as one that I love most
sincerely, indeed My Dearest Mary I would
rather give up all correspondence with
you than suppose you did not at all times
both speak & write your mind freely
to me, I know the last is whats easiest to
do by experience but for God sake my
Dear Girl never disguise through modesty or
any other thing your sincere sentiments
to me, perhaps & without doubt you may
get a better adviser but sure I am that
to the best of my abilities you never
will get one that has your interest
more at heart both as to your present
and future expectations in this World,
& to his sincere wish for you by Prayer
in the next. The Ladies's Maids have got
a dancing in the next room & are making
such a Noise that I must give over &
as the post goes immediately you'll get this
to morrow so hoping I shall hear soon
& that from the Heart in every station of
your Life I shall now end, begging my most
respectful Compliments to Mrs Hamilton
& Mrs Rogers not forgetting Mrs Thursby and
any friends you may think I have at
Northampton Adieu My dearest dearest Ward
believe me most sincerely your most
affectionate Cousin, friend, & Guardian, the two
last I honour the first is mere chance
not worth the regarding in respect
to the two others God bless My dearest
ward is the Prayer & wish of her Guardian
can I say more than the last word
if possible, be so good as add it
& believe me I'll sign Napier to it.
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Notes
Metadata
Library References
Repository: John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester
Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers
Item title: Letter from William Napier, 7th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: HAM/1/19/46
Correspondence Details
Sender: William Napier, 7th Lord
Place sent: Buxton
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 8 June 1773
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from William Napier, 7th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton. He writes of
his time at Buxton and advises to Hamilton on her spirits, noting that if we
were always to be happy then we would not know good from bad. He also writes
on poetry and that a clergyman had told him of two books of poetry ‘by one
Byrom of Manchester just come out’, copies of which he has just sent for
[John Byrom,
Miscellaneous Poems, by John Byrom, M.A.
F.R.S. sometime Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge
. Manchester:
J. Harrop, 1773].
Dated at Buxton [Derbyshire].
Length: 2 sheets, 1268 words
Transliteration Information
Editorial declaration: First edited in the project 'Unlocking the Mary Hamilton Papers' (Hannah Barker, Sophie Coulombeau, David Denison, Tino Oudesluijs, Cassandra Ulph, Christine Wallis & Nuria Yáñez-Bouza, 2019-2023).
All quotation marks are retained in the text and are represented by appropriate Unicode characters. Words split across two lines may have a hyphen on the first, the second or both fragments (reco-|ver, imperfect|-ly, satisfacti-|-on); or a double hyphen (pur=|port, dan|=ger, qua=|=litys); or none (respect|ing). Any point in abbreviations with superscripted letter(s) is placed last, regardless of relative left-right orientation in the original. Thus, Mrs. or Mrs may occur, but M.rs or Mr.s do not.
Acknowledgements: Transcription and XML version created as part of project 'Unlocking the Mary Hamilton Papers', funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council under grant AH/S007121/1.
Transliterator: Christine Wallis, editorial team (completed 1 September 2020)
Cataloguer: Lisa Crawley, Archivist, The John Rylands Library
Cataloguer: John Hodgson, Head of Special Collections, John Rylands Research Institute and Library
Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors
Revision date: 2 November 2021